**1. Introduction**

Sustainability was defined by the United Nations far in 1987 as "the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" [1, 2].

A constant presence in the state-of-the-art scientific literature consists of studies aiming at identifying and testing various possibilities to re-use various by-products

generated in the field of vine crops and wine industry. A positive economic impact, together with a positive social and environmental impacts on long term are aimed, actions focusing on obtaining high-value added products, and on thoroughly defining the benefits of organic over conventional viticulture [3–8].

Waste from economical activities related to vine cultures may be solid or liquid. Wastes may be generated in different technological phases of wine industry, and in other grape-based foods or beverages. Also, a significant amount of waste comes from the cultivation of vines itself. Solid waste materials may be grape stalks, grape seeds, grape pomace and others. Grape stalks are the major byproduct of the vineyards, and may be an important source of cellulose, lignin, sodium (Na) and potassium (K) [9], while grape pomace is the major waste from wine industries [10]. Grape pomace consists of skin residues, pulp remains, stalks, and seeds. Proportion of these has a high variability depending on fruits maturity, grape cultivars, as well as the technological processes applied. Studies conducted to obtain its elemental profile revealed carbon as the most abundant (54%), followed by oxygen (38%), hydrogen (6%), nitrogen (2%) and traces of sulfur (0.08%) [11].

According to Eurostat [12] updates, the central European country of Romania, with a total area under vines of 183,717 hectares, ranks fifth among the EU member states in this economic domain, and the annual production was of approx. 974 thousand tons of grapes in 2019 according to FAO database [13]. General characteristics of Romanian vineyards and widespread cultivated varieties, together with particular pedoclimatic conditions will be presented in the next sections. Native Romanian varieties of *Vitis vinifera L*. (*i.e.* Feteasca Neagra, etc) will be presented in detail, together with their valuable properties.

Transition from conventional to organic agriculture is one of the main goals of the European Union, the aim is to continuously improve the quality of the environment and life. Organic agriculture, by eliminating the systemic treatments with pesticides and fertilizers, has the potential to generate agricultural products with low risk of contamination, safer for human and animal consumption, and implicitly may lead to revitalization of biodiversity worldwide [3, 5, 7]. Currently, the vine is one of the most widespread crops and is grown mainly in various temperate regions around the world and a minority in some tropical areas. On the other hand, *Vitis vinifera L*., an extremely valuable crop, represents a significant source of income for many countries worldwide, and an expansion/adaptation of this crop even in the northern countries of Europe, where the climate is not friendly, is expected in the next years. Also, pedoclimatic conditions are related with technological and phenolic maturity as a result of a grapes adaptation to the environment.

Valorization of by-products generally requires a specific evaluation of composition and biological activities. Also, the recovery of valuable compounds from grape-based waste is an emerging issue in the context of circular economy, and should be performed in the most eco-friendly manner. Suitable extraction techniques and cost-effective analytical laboratory procedures need to be developed and applied.

The use or re-use of vines parts for so-called nutraceuticals, or cosmeceuticals, or other consumer-goods applications, are basically centered on phytochemical and microbiological characterization. The diversity of collected data (phytochemical, spectroscopic, others) are used in chemometric strategies for predicting a qualitative response for many applications. In the context described in the above, the information and experimental results presented in this chapter aim at providing useful data and tools, as it was graphically suggested in **Figure 1**.

*Romanian Organic and Conventional Red Grapes Vineyards as Potential Sources… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98972*

**Figure 1.**

*Graphic representation of the research concept on Vitis vinifera L. varieties.*
